On the "Order of Operations" and Discipline

Don't worry about all the things, just focused on the next thing

Good morning to everyone. That’s it, just good morning!

Here’s a quick summary of today’s article:

• Everything in Jiu-jitsu follows a specific sequence: Your “Order of Operations”

• Understanding “Discipline” in training

• When in doubt, disengage and reset

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“Put their hand on the mat”

-Me, every time I’m playing guard

Even after 14 years, it still astounds me how simple jiu-jitsu is. I repeat the above quote in my head after a class with Nic Meregali. That class theme was using 2:1 control of the arm (gi) to play open guard. It was an excellent class and I had a lot of fun applying old techniques to this new control.

This class, more specifically, had some solutions to wrestle up from the guard position. The dominance of the 2:1 helped control the upper body and the legs helped to off-balance effectively. The big challenge, of course was the other arm that was uncontrolled.

Some of the off-balancing techniques included getting that arm on the mat so it was occupied with maintaining balance. When that hand was on the mat, you were free to move into your next technique.

Since this class, I’ve played with the 2 on 1 quite a bit, but my big takeaway was “Put the hands on the mat”, which echoed another concept I’ve told my students for years:

“A good way to tell if someone is off-balanced is whether their hands are on the mat or not”.

I bring this up in lieu of some other articles I’ve written on awareness and the idea of “no mind” in jiu-jitsu. It’s almost impossible for me not to have an internal dialog in training. And for as much as I try to “feel” jiu-jitsu, I’m always talking to myself. In this case, it’s a simple reminder to engage in my “Order of Operations.”

In a recent lesson, a student was claiming that he gets overwhelmed with options and movements and techniques. He doesn’t know what to do and sometimes gets lost. I told him, the best thing to do in every situation is just remember your order of operations.

Everything in jiu-jitsu follows a specific sequence from step one to step whatever. And if you’re ever lost, you’re likely just not focused on what’s important: The Next Step.

So here’s the next step.

[Also: How to Get Immensely Better even if you have No Clue What to Do]